"The Lion King” still reigned at the box office this weekend, but Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" was the must-see movie, with a record-setting debut to land in second place.

Tarantino’s nostalgic, R-rated ode to the Hollywood of 50 years ago opened with $40 million from 3,659 North American theaters, a career best for the filmmaker. Sony had forecast a more modest $30 million opening for the film, which is set in Los Angeles in 1969 and stars Brad Pitt as his stunt double and best friend. It also scored an opening-day record for Tarantino, with a $16.8 million haul on Friday.

[Here's the obligatory gif of an emotional DiCaprio in the film, who's just been told by a young costar that his acting was "the best she's ever seen."]

"Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" sured Tarantino's previous best opening weekend, which was "Django Unchained,” Tarantino’s biggest box office success, debuted with $30 million over the holidays in 2012, and went on to earn $425 million worldwide.

His new film, which also costars Sharon Tate, cost $90 million to produce, making it one of his most expensive movies. According to THR, DiCaprio took a $5 million pay cut from his usual $20 million asking price to get the film made. But he stands to make more than $45 million, thanks to his back-end deal.

Audiences gave it a "B" CinemaScore, slightly down from the  "A-" earned by "Inglourious Basterds” and "Django Unchained."

Meanwhile, "The Lion King" collected another $75.5 million, down roughly 60% from its first weekend. The remake has racked up $350 million at the domestic box office, making it the fourth-biggest release of the year after 10 days in theaters. Overseas, "The Lion King" has earned $612 million for a global total of $963 million.

Disney now owns the five-highest grossing movies of the year with "Aladdin" ($345 million).

Sony is doing well with the No. 2 and No. 3 films at the moment: "Spider-Man: Far from Home" is in third place its fourth weekend. Spidey is still a Sony-owned character, despite Marvel sharing him with the Disney-owned MCU.

Here are the top 10 estimates for July 26-28, 2019

1. "The Lion King" (2019), $75,524,000
2. "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," $40,350,000
3. "Spider-Man: Far from Home," $12,200,000
4. "Toy Story 4," $9,872,000
5. "Crawl," $4,000,000
6. "Yesterday," $3,000,000
7. "Aladdin" (2019), $2,788,000
8. "Stuber," $1,679,000
9. "Annabelle Comes Home," $1,560,000
10. "The Farewell," $1,553,864

[Via Variety]